____________________________
__________________________
“In towns and cities... there is no more important institution than the local paper.”
Warren Buffett
Seafood giant will lay off 197 workers in November as it moves toward closing its longtime Santa Fe Springs processing facility.
LCCN Staff Report
SANTA FE SPRINGS — Bumble Bee Foods is preparing to shut down its Santa Fe Springs tuna processing plant, a move expected to eliminate more than 230 local jobs as the seafood company consolidates its production operations.
The company filed a California WARN notice Aug. 11 stating that 197 employees at its facility at 13100 Arctic Circle will be laid off effective Nov. 19.
The layoffs are part of a larger plan to close the Santa Fe Springs processing facility entirely, most likely in late March 2027, according to the Los Angeles Times. Bumble Bee expects approximately 36 additional employees to lose their jobs when the plant finally closes.
“This decision is part of an effort to streamline our supply chain and production network by reducing the number of processing points in the value stream,” Bumble Bee spokesperson Arielle Schechtman told the Los Angeles Times.
The November layoffs will not be the first employment reduction at the Arctic Circle facility.
Bumble Bee previously filed a WARN notice affecting 56 workers at the same Santa Fe Springs location, with those layoffs taking effect Dec. 18, 2025.
The two WARN notices alone account for 253 affected positions at the Santa Fe Springs facility since late 2025. Approximately 36 additional employees are expected to be affected when the plant closes in 2027, although it is unclear whether any of those positions overlap with employees included in the earlier notices.
State employment records classify the Santa Fe Springs operation under seafood product preparation and packaging.
The closure represents a significant loss of manufacturing jobs for Santa Fe Springs, a heavily industrial city where manufacturing, distribution and food-processing businesses make up an important portion of the local economy.
The Aug. 11 WARN filing gives employees roughly 100 days’ notice before the Nov. 19 layoffs. California’s WARN Act generally requires covered employers to provide at least 60 days’ advance notice of qualifying mass layoffs, relocations or plant closures.
Bumble Bee Foods has not indicated that closing the Santa Fe Springs facility will end production of its well-known canned seafood products. Instead, the company has characterized the move as a consolidation of its processing and supply-chain operations.
The 197-worker layoff is scheduled to take effect Nov. 19, with the remaining employees expected to continue operating the Santa Fe Springs facility until its anticipated closure in 2027.